Off topic, but how did you get better?

[acblevins]

I am teaching myself Python and I have taken many different beginner series from "Automate the boring stuff" to a few Udemy courses. I understand the basic stuff, but sitting here reading the docs can be boring and I often catch myself just staring at the screen because I lose focus, or I don't fully understand something. I feel like I learn better by doing, so I try and find online tutorials and follow along. Currently I am involved in web scrapping with BeautifulSoup. I feel like I lack a structured learning environment (downside to teaching yourself), so how did you, or how are you learning Python? And did you learn everything in the doc before moving on to something else?

Thanks for reading

[metulburr]

I learned by self taught. After the basics are down i started doing things i was interested in. In my case was GUI, then pygme, then web scraping, etc. During those i learned more basic stuff, but was a lot more interesting than reading docs. A lot of my method was trial and error. This forum became my instructor as multiple people responding to my questions giving different info. IF i had a question, i would post here. If I finished a script i would post here and try to get pointers for how to make my code better. If i had a problem i would post here, and people would respond sometimes with different methods. Which in turn i learned at at least about those different methods. I would read others questions and their thread responses to learn as much about everything i was interested in.

EDIT:
Actually i did take a class in python in college. But i learned more by self teaching than i ever did in college.

[ichabod801]

I learned Python by getting a book and reading it, which is my standard method for learning languages. I liked it so I kept fiddling with it, writing code about stuff I was interested in, making work easier, sometimes ditzy games for when I was bored at work.

I don't learn all the docs. I learn enough to done the bones of any program: the data types, the branching commands, the looping commands, subroutines, OOP. Get a basic idea of where things are that I might need later, and then look them up when I need them.

[metulburr]

making work easier

@OP: I think this is key too. Try to automate your daily activities or programs to aid your activities. That is an easier way to come up with ideas on what to program.

For example here is a program I wrote (before i knew about version control like git). Plus I think it is quite nice to house all your projects at a place like github because years later you can look back and see your progress.

I wouldnt try to memorize too many docs or tutorials. I cant tell you how many times i have loaded the same tutorial over the years to look up the same thing. I even have looked at my own tutorials on how to do stuff years later lol.

EDIT:
I also had a book about python and read it cover to cover typing everything in along the way.

[acblevins]

@ichabod801, @metulburr
Automating some stuff at work is one reason why I got into this. Quick question on that topic, however. Do I need python installed on my machine at work, or can I run the code off a flash drive through the command prompt? I don't think my company would appreciate me downloading something like pycharm, or python to the machine, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Especially if I'm doing it for work.

[snippsat]

or can I run the code off a flash drive through the command prompt?

You can run Anaconda | Miniconda from a flash drive or just copy whole folder over as it's stand alone Distribution.
Even if can do this,so should/most you always ask for permission in a work place environment.

downloading something like pycharm

Anaconda do now support come with VS Code in Anaconda Distribution 5.1
It's a good editor can look at VS Code from start.

[metulburr]

There are options for portable python (PythonXY, WinPython, Anaconda, Python Anywhere).

You can also just put a linux live on a usb and boot into that as linux comes with python. But they might be not worth it 1) more complex since windows 8+ and 2) you lose access to windows when on linux live.

Im not sure how they handle your system. But my college use to flash them so anything installed would get removed at midnight everyday. So i just kept installing python when i used it there.

[snippsat]

Can also mention that there is cloud service where you can run full environment in browser.
I mean you run a Linux distro eg Ubuntu with a integrated code editor,so can install with pip and code as you would on a normal distro.
Here a image how cloud9 look in browser for me when i use it.

[acblevins]

Can also mention that there is cloud service where you can run full environment in browser.
I mean you run a Linux distro eg Ubuntu with a integrated code editor,so can install with pip and code as you would on a normal distro.
Here a image how cloud9 look in browser for me when i use it.

Im looking into this now. TY

[Raunikkapoor26]

I took a Python Training from CETPA they taught us everything right from scratch covering all the theory and plus they made that boring theory sound really interesting it's all about building interest and that can happen when you get real-life examples and hands-on approach on live projects. The course I took covered all of the above and they taught us python from basic to advanced level and it was a great experience. I never thought that programming could be so fun. I have seen improvement in my programming skills and overall development.